Poste of Doome, parte the firste!
Jul. 29th, 2008 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gothams3rdrobin(Yes, I know, adding e's on the ends of words doesn't make it Olde English, but it amuses me *grins*)
I'm pretty remiss at posting at the moment, but I do have stuff worth noting down in this journal; during the month of July, I do appear to have been making a passable imitation at having *looks around shiftily* a life!
So...what happened?
There was much finger-crossing that the school sports day would go ahead as planned this year, following the constant rain-outs last year. It was looking pretty dicey for quite a while, but it went ahead - though it was constantly touch and go, and did begin to rain while everything was packed away.
Rowan did fairly well; I think he came second in his first obstacle race, and third in his second. He didn't do so well in the egg and spoon race though, as he was too concerned with keeping the egg on the spoon! *laughs* Bless!
I was relieved that he wasn't in any races with his classmate Mark, who is a proper little Kid Flash! Rowan's always bemoaning the fact he never wins any playground races against Mark, and I can now understand why!
All in all, a very successful event, and Rowan came away beaming.
Soon after, Rowan and I caught the train to Birmingham, to attend the birthday party of my friend Robert's wife Jane. Long-time readers of my journal will remember that Robert is a high-school friend of mine, and we go to Queen/Brian May concerts together from time to time - there's one coming up this autumn, as a matter of fact *bounces impatiently*
I've only met Jane once, back in 2005, but we hit it off, and I was thrilled to get the party invite via Facebook. It was also great to finally get to meet their kids, Rhian, Jamie and little Sophie - who was due to be born a few months after I last saw Rob and Jane. They're really lovely kids, and Rowan got on well with Jamie, who's a month older than him. Rhian kindly let us sleep in her bedroom up in the attic, having to sleep on Jamie's bedroom floor for the night, bless her. Once again I was touched by their hospitality, finding us proper beds to sleep on when I would have been very content on the sofa.
I barely saw Rowan during the party, as he spent most of his time up in the little mezzanine with the other kids, generally causing a ruckus! *grins* But at least he had a good time. Rob's band Pipe provided the entertainment, playing a mix of old classics, and Jamie and Sophie sang songs each too - that was adorable! I caught a fair bit of it on my camera, and I'm slowly uploading it on Facebook - may post it here eventually.
We got back at about midnight, packing the kids off to bed straight away while we had a nice cuppa and Jane opened all her presents. We eventually went to bed ourselves at about two, but it was nice to spend a couple of hours having a grown up chat *grins*
The next day, Rob and Jane dropped the kids off at sunday school at their local Salvation Army corps before heading back to the hall to clean up after the party. Rowan and I stayed back at the house so I could give my little man a bath - he'd gotten very sweaty at the party, unsurprisingly. We then pottered around a bit while waiting for them to get back, but just before they did, Rowan decided it would be a good idea to mess around with the family's pet hamster - and got his finger bitten for his troubles! Just seconds after I told him to stop what he was doing or that would be the consequence *rolls eyes* I was in the process of hauling him to the kitchen to stop the bleeding when Rob came through the front door. I'm sorry to say I wasn't especially sympathetic to his bawling, and there was a great deal of "I told you so!", but we all pretty much chalked it up to "Well, he's not going to try that again is he!" *chuckles*
We then collected the kids again before heading over to Jane's parents house for Sunday dinner. Our train tickets for the return journey were open-ended, so we didn't have to worry about catching a specific train - the only concern was getting home early enough for Rowan, since he had school in the morning. All in all, I had a very nice weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when they come down to see the Doctor Who exhibition at the Bay - Rob's not been back to Cardiff for fifteen years, so it'll be interesting to see his reaction to all the changes!
The following weekend, we went back up to Birmingham with Mam and Dad to see the outdoor athletics - this one was kinda important as there was Olympic trials going on during the events. It wasn't as much fun as the indoor events we'd watched back in February, and Rowan got very fidgety. We didn't get to see it all, either, as it was going on till eight at night and there was no way Mam was driving for two and a half hours after sitting in the stadium for about seven hours!
It started kinda badly since, as usual, Dad was dragging his heels at home before we left. It's typical of an outing with my parents, as you can guarantee Dad will spend the whole time beforehand sitting in his chair with his eyes closed, looking pathetic. He does this for any major event, including birthdays and Christmas. This, of course, makes Mam grumpy as hell, and me wonder what the hell I'm doing agreeing to go anywhere with them anymore. He's always more or less fine when we get going, though. *rolls eyes*
We also had to make a detour to an ASDA near the stadium, to meet with Rob and Jane in the car park so they could hand over the stuffed toys Rowan left behind in Rhian's room! *chuckles* It's partially my fault, since I was the one who repacked the bags on the Sunday morning and I'm so used to seeing his teddies strewn across his duvet that I overlooked them. But still, we got them back safely.
Things went along quietly after that till the school term came to a close. I'm probably sadder than Rowan about that, as I thought his teacher was fantastic and I'm sorry she's no longer going to be teaching him.
Mel and Will came up for the day to see Mel's parents, so I met up with them in town and we all went to collect Rowan from school; Mel and I going into the school yard, while Will looked desperately for somewhere to park the car - never an easy thing in those narrow streets. They then came back to ours for a cuppa before stealing my boy away for ten days! *chuckles* It was so odd not having him around, and I slept in quite a bit that weekend. Had to go back to work as normal on Monday, though it was nice to just come home and do whatever I wanted. It wasn't exactly a demonstration of what my life would be without him, since it would undoubtedly have taken a very different path - I'd have lived in the shared house in Grangetown for much longer, for a start! - but it was certainly a change.
After work on Thursday I jumped on a train myself to go join them in Aldershot. Rowan proudly showed me his tooth, which had fallen out the day before. The next day, we spent the afternoon at Legoland Windsor - and I have such a picspam for you guys about that trip! It was blisteringly hot the whole day - so much so we went on a couple of the water rides just to cool down! It was also a close call as to who was the biggest kid, Rowan or his Uncle Will! *grins* Of course, Aunty Mel and Mummah weren't exactly mature that day either! *wink*
On the Saturday, Will took Rowan to see Aldershot Football Club play Leighton Orient, while Mel took me on the train to London (or Nodnol, as she refers to it, initially confusing the hell out of me! *laughs*) with plans for a girly day out looking around bead shops on Tottenham Court Rd. We arrived at a packed Waterloo station, making our way to the Underground to catch the Northern Line to our destination. When we left the Underground, right in front of us was the Dominion Theatre, where they're performing the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You', so I had a quick "Oooh!" and genuflected at the statue of Freddie. Mel then turns to me and starts singing "Happy Birthday!", and I realise she's really brought me here to see the show! Sneaky little bitch! *laughs* I said as much to her face too, right before I hugged the living daylights out of her.
The show...*exhales* There are no words to describe how awesome it was. I've had the soundtrack on CD for about six years, so I knew it was going to be good, but to see the whole thing and get the songs in their intended context? Beyond awesome! I think Mel was expecting me to be jigging in my seat and singing along the whole time, but I was just too enthralled - though I did do all the required hand movements. The woman who played Killer Queen winked at us as she was gliding out into the audience on this revolving bit of stage. Hee! I'm just glad we weren't the ones Commander Kashogi pursed a kiss at moments later!
After the show, we struggled back along the subway to Waterloo to get our train home, and had a barbeque for dinner. Mel and Will were at Will's parents house for the week, ostensibly house-sitting, but really to take care of the cat. Magic's a lovely creature, but she is a pampered little kitten and she knows it! *grins* Quite the little madam, that one.
We spent most of the next day, Sunday, around the house as it was too hot to do anything and we had a train to catch that afternoon anyway. It was sad to leave, as always, particularly as I had to work the next day. The journey took about three hours, and we were both tired so I was getting pretty cranky by the time we pulled into Central. Not helped by the fact they're currently rebuilding the bus station, so we had to haul all our stuff round to St Mary's St to catch the bus - when you take a child away for a week or more, you pretty much need their entire wardrobe, and that's even when you have washing facilities available. Mel and Will sent us home with ninety percent of our washing already done, bless them, so I haven't had to fuss too much this week - good thing too, as I'm still pretty drained.
I have pictures to go with what I've been up to, but I think I will save that for a separate picspam post.
I'm gonna stop here, since it's taken me an hour and half to write this much! *grins* But before I go, Mel has asked if I would mind 'pimping' her out to my f-list to see if any of you guys would be interested in chatting to her over LJ, since she hears so many good things about you guys. (This is, you understand, why this post is friends-only, since I've been randomly friended by some unfamiliar people myself recently - usually people with journals full of Russian, strangely...) Who knows, it might encourage her to post more! *chuckles*
So, if you're interested, please feel free to add![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thaya_rayal to your flist and introduce yourself; she's really friendly, and is interested in things like sci-fi, cooking, woolcraft, jewelery making, medieval re-enactment...loads!
I'm pretty remiss at posting at the moment, but I do have stuff worth noting down in this journal; during the month of July, I do appear to have been making a passable imitation at having *looks around shiftily* a life!
So...what happened?
There was much finger-crossing that the school sports day would go ahead as planned this year, following the constant rain-outs last year. It was looking pretty dicey for quite a while, but it went ahead - though it was constantly touch and go, and did begin to rain while everything was packed away.
Rowan did fairly well; I think he came second in his first obstacle race, and third in his second. He didn't do so well in the egg and spoon race though, as he was too concerned with keeping the egg on the spoon! *laughs* Bless!
I was relieved that he wasn't in any races with his classmate Mark, who is a proper little Kid Flash! Rowan's always bemoaning the fact he never wins any playground races against Mark, and I can now understand why!
All in all, a very successful event, and Rowan came away beaming.
Soon after, Rowan and I caught the train to Birmingham, to attend the birthday party of my friend Robert's wife Jane. Long-time readers of my journal will remember that Robert is a high-school friend of mine, and we go to Queen/Brian May concerts together from time to time - there's one coming up this autumn, as a matter of fact *bounces impatiently*
I've only met Jane once, back in 2005, but we hit it off, and I was thrilled to get the party invite via Facebook. It was also great to finally get to meet their kids, Rhian, Jamie and little Sophie - who was due to be born a few months after I last saw Rob and Jane. They're really lovely kids, and Rowan got on well with Jamie, who's a month older than him. Rhian kindly let us sleep in her bedroom up in the attic, having to sleep on Jamie's bedroom floor for the night, bless her. Once again I was touched by their hospitality, finding us proper beds to sleep on when I would have been very content on the sofa.
I barely saw Rowan during the party, as he spent most of his time up in the little mezzanine with the other kids, generally causing a ruckus! *grins* But at least he had a good time. Rob's band Pipe provided the entertainment, playing a mix of old classics, and Jamie and Sophie sang songs each too - that was adorable! I caught a fair bit of it on my camera, and I'm slowly uploading it on Facebook - may post it here eventually.
We got back at about midnight, packing the kids off to bed straight away while we had a nice cuppa and Jane opened all her presents. We eventually went to bed ourselves at about two, but it was nice to spend a couple of hours having a grown up chat *grins*
The next day, Rob and Jane dropped the kids off at sunday school at their local Salvation Army corps before heading back to the hall to clean up after the party. Rowan and I stayed back at the house so I could give my little man a bath - he'd gotten very sweaty at the party, unsurprisingly. We then pottered around a bit while waiting for them to get back, but just before they did, Rowan decided it would be a good idea to mess around with the family's pet hamster - and got his finger bitten for his troubles! Just seconds after I told him to stop what he was doing or that would be the consequence *rolls eyes* I was in the process of hauling him to the kitchen to stop the bleeding when Rob came through the front door. I'm sorry to say I wasn't especially sympathetic to his bawling, and there was a great deal of "I told you so!", but we all pretty much chalked it up to "Well, he's not going to try that again is he!" *chuckles*
We then collected the kids again before heading over to Jane's parents house for Sunday dinner. Our train tickets for the return journey were open-ended, so we didn't have to worry about catching a specific train - the only concern was getting home early enough for Rowan, since he had school in the morning. All in all, I had a very nice weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when they come down to see the Doctor Who exhibition at the Bay - Rob's not been back to Cardiff for fifteen years, so it'll be interesting to see his reaction to all the changes!
The following weekend, we went back up to Birmingham with Mam and Dad to see the outdoor athletics - this one was kinda important as there was Olympic trials going on during the events. It wasn't as much fun as the indoor events we'd watched back in February, and Rowan got very fidgety. We didn't get to see it all, either, as it was going on till eight at night and there was no way Mam was driving for two and a half hours after sitting in the stadium for about seven hours!
It started kinda badly since, as usual, Dad was dragging his heels at home before we left. It's typical of an outing with my parents, as you can guarantee Dad will spend the whole time beforehand sitting in his chair with his eyes closed, looking pathetic. He does this for any major event, including birthdays and Christmas. This, of course, makes Mam grumpy as hell, and me wonder what the hell I'm doing agreeing to go anywhere with them anymore. He's always more or less fine when we get going, though. *rolls eyes*
We also had to make a detour to an ASDA near the stadium, to meet with Rob and Jane in the car park so they could hand over the stuffed toys Rowan left behind in Rhian's room! *chuckles* It's partially my fault, since I was the one who repacked the bags on the Sunday morning and I'm so used to seeing his teddies strewn across his duvet that I overlooked them. But still, we got them back safely.
Things went along quietly after that till the school term came to a close. I'm probably sadder than Rowan about that, as I thought his teacher was fantastic and I'm sorry she's no longer going to be teaching him.
Mel and Will came up for the day to see Mel's parents, so I met up with them in town and we all went to collect Rowan from school; Mel and I going into the school yard, while Will looked desperately for somewhere to park the car - never an easy thing in those narrow streets. They then came back to ours for a cuppa before stealing my boy away for ten days! *chuckles* It was so odd not having him around, and I slept in quite a bit that weekend. Had to go back to work as normal on Monday, though it was nice to just come home and do whatever I wanted. It wasn't exactly a demonstration of what my life would be without him, since it would undoubtedly have taken a very different path - I'd have lived in the shared house in Grangetown for much longer, for a start! - but it was certainly a change.
After work on Thursday I jumped on a train myself to go join them in Aldershot. Rowan proudly showed me his tooth, which had fallen out the day before. The next day, we spent the afternoon at Legoland Windsor - and I have such a picspam for you guys about that trip! It was blisteringly hot the whole day - so much so we went on a couple of the water rides just to cool down! It was also a close call as to who was the biggest kid, Rowan or his Uncle Will! *grins* Of course, Aunty Mel and Mummah weren't exactly mature that day either! *wink*
On the Saturday, Will took Rowan to see Aldershot Football Club play Leighton Orient, while Mel took me on the train to London (or Nodnol, as she refers to it, initially confusing the hell out of me! *laughs*) with plans for a girly day out looking around bead shops on Tottenham Court Rd. We arrived at a packed Waterloo station, making our way to the Underground to catch the Northern Line to our destination. When we left the Underground, right in front of us was the Dominion Theatre, where they're performing the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You', so I had a quick "Oooh!" and genuflected at the statue of Freddie. Mel then turns to me and starts singing "Happy Birthday!", and I realise she's really brought me here to see the show! Sneaky little bitch! *laughs* I said as much to her face too, right before I hugged the living daylights out of her.
The show...*exhales* There are no words to describe how awesome it was. I've had the soundtrack on CD for about six years, so I knew it was going to be good, but to see the whole thing and get the songs in their intended context? Beyond awesome! I think Mel was expecting me to be jigging in my seat and singing along the whole time, but I was just too enthralled - though I did do all the required hand movements. The woman who played Killer Queen winked at us as she was gliding out into the audience on this revolving bit of stage. Hee! I'm just glad we weren't the ones Commander Kashogi pursed a kiss at moments later!
After the show, we struggled back along the subway to Waterloo to get our train home, and had a barbeque for dinner. Mel and Will were at Will's parents house for the week, ostensibly house-sitting, but really to take care of the cat. Magic's a lovely creature, but she is a pampered little kitten and she knows it! *grins* Quite the little madam, that one.
We spent most of the next day, Sunday, around the house as it was too hot to do anything and we had a train to catch that afternoon anyway. It was sad to leave, as always, particularly as I had to work the next day. The journey took about three hours, and we were both tired so I was getting pretty cranky by the time we pulled into Central. Not helped by the fact they're currently rebuilding the bus station, so we had to haul all our stuff round to St Mary's St to catch the bus - when you take a child away for a week or more, you pretty much need their entire wardrobe, and that's even when you have washing facilities available. Mel and Will sent us home with ninety percent of our washing already done, bless them, so I haven't had to fuss too much this week - good thing too, as I'm still pretty drained.
I have pictures to go with what I've been up to, but I think I will save that for a separate picspam post.
I'm gonna stop here, since it's taken me an hour and half to write this much! *grins* But before I go, Mel has asked if I would mind 'pimping' her out to my f-list to see if any of you guys would be interested in chatting to her over LJ, since she hears so many good things about you guys. (This is, you understand, why this post is friends-only, since I've been randomly friended by some unfamiliar people myself recently - usually people with journals full of Russian, strangely...) Who knows, it might encourage her to post more! *chuckles*
So, if you're interested, please feel free to add
thaya_rayal to your flist and introduce yourself; she's really friendly, and is interested in things like sci-fi, cooking, woolcraft, jewelery making, medieval re-enactment...loads!
